The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-02-26
FIRE AS A FIGURE OF PUNISHMENT.
BY REV. W. e. MANLEY, d. d.
Denver, Colo.)

No one needs be told that fire is often
used as a figure of punishment in the
Scriptures. suppose the day is past,
when such passages are taken in liter
al sense. Indeed some will probably deny
that such an absurdity was ever be-
lieved ; and the time may come when
the same class of people will deny that
endless hell torment was ever preached
from Christian pulpit.
1t is, therefore, unnecessary to point
out the absurdity of supposing that the
soul is punished, or ever will be, in lit
eral fire. But this fact does not do
away with the necessity of explaining
the figure, and passages in which it is
found. Some may think fire is employ
ed as a figure of punishment, to indicate
its severity; in other words, that the
punishment represented by it will be
as painful as would be that of burning
in literal flames. If this is SO, see no
great advantage in denying the literal
Interpretation. 1t makes but little diff
ference by what agency suffering is in
fiicted, if there is no mitigation Of its
severity. The Bible is an oriental book;
and oriental figures are extravaganza and
hyperbolical. Such is no doubt the case
with fire as figure of punishment. A
minister once said to boy, that if he
was a bad boy, he would be burnt in the
fire forever. II don't think sou said
the boy, 81 couldn't stand it, know l
couldn't" That was sensible.
By consulting the passages in which
this figure occurs, it will be evident,
l think, that one Of two things is had
in view, either destruction or purifca-
ton. Sometimes Doth are brought be-
fore us in the same passage, depending
on what is associated with the fire.
Fire-associated with chaff, or tares, or
any combustible substance, denotes de-
struction; but associated with gold, sill
yer, brass or iron, it denotes purifca-
ton.
/. 1t is said of the Lord, "Whose
fire is in Zion and his furnace in Jeru-
salem," Isaiah xxi, 8; and in Eek.
xxi. 1922, after describing the immor-
al practices Of the Jews, the following
language occurs:
'And the word of the Lord came I'M
to me, saying, Son of man; the house
of Israel is become dross unto me; all of
them are baSyg hid tin and iron and
lead, in the midst of the furnace; they
are dross of silver. Therefore, thus
saith the Lord God, Because We are all
become dross therefore, behold, will
gather you into the midst of Jerusa-
lem. AS they gather silver and brass and
iron and lead and tin, into the midst of
the furnace to blow the fire upon it, to
melt it; so will gather you in mine
anger and in my fury, and 1 will lay
you there and melt you. AS silver
is melted in the midst of the furnace,
so shall ye be melted in the midst there.
of; and We shall know that !, the Lord,
have poured out my fury upon you"
When it is said that all the people
had become dross, the language is a
Hebraism, in which a noun is used for
an Adjective very common idiom in
the Old Testament, and not without ex-
amples in the New. The meaning is
not, that they were all dross, but were
drossy, (if that word is allowable). 1t
is worthy of note that the anger, wrath
and fury Of God, are directed to good
object, the publication of his people.
Let another thing be noticed. There
is here no mention of gold. The best
among the people, when the dross was
removed, were no better than silver
while most of them were represented
BY the baser metals, brass and tin and
lead and iron
2. Again, it is said of Jesus, HE
shall sit as refiner and purifier of sill
yer and he shall purify the sons of
Levi, and purge them, as gold and sill
YER; and they shall offer unto the Lord
offerings in righteousness" Nal. iii.
8. 1t is beautiful remark of some
one, Il do not recall the author), that
when arefner of gold or silver can see
his image in the metal before him, he
knows that the work of publication is
complete. SO Jesus, who sits as a
purifier of silver, knows that his work
is effective, when he sees his image in
those to whom the fire of divine judg-
ment has been applied.
In the New Testament there is
considerable number of passages that
relate to our subject, some of which
are Ioften adduced against us. The
most common and most formidable are
those that relate to the Gehenna fire.
1t is said of this place, "Where the
worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched. The popular Interpretation
has metamOrphosed this worm into "the
never-dying worm" of conscience, and
this fire into a never-endlng punish
ment; and it has removed Gehenna
from this world, where it belongs, to the
world of spirits, where it does not be-